Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydive

A few hours ago, he successfully jumped from a height of 18 miles. Here's an exclusive interview with the daredevil

This article was published before Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking 127,900 foot skydive yesterday.

Here's our exclusive interview with the daredevil.

Most people would baulk at the thought of jumping off an aircraft with nothing except a parachute. But Felix Baumgartner is not most people – in fact, he might just be the wildest, most daring man alive. Because his next major jump will not be from something as commonplace as an airplane: It will be the highest, fastest and most dangerous skydive ever attempted – from the very edge of space.

The Red Bull Stratos project, as his endeavour is christened, is one of the most ambitious missions ever undertaken: Baumgartner will fly a gas balloon to about 1,20,000 ft (36.5 km) before opening its hatch and jumping out. For perspective: most modern airliners fly at around 35,000 ft – Baumgartner plans to jump from almost three-and-a-half times that altitude. In doing so, he will break the records for the highest balloon ascent, highest jump, longest freefall and the fastest speed travelled by a human through the atmosphere (outside of a craft) – most of which have been standing since Col. Joe Kittinger jumped from an altitude of 102,000 ft (31 km) as part of the US Air Force’s Project Excelsior in 1960.

“Joe was my childhood hero, and I never thought I would have the opportunity to break his records. As a skydiver, you always want to go higher and faster, and I think there is nothing as big or high or as fast as this,” says an enthusiastic Baumgartner in an exclusive interview with GQ.

A skydiver since he was 16, Baumgartner has partnered with Red Bull for extreme skydiving exhibitions since 1988, and has been an avid BASE jumper since the Nineties, setting several records for both the highest and lowest jumps ever done. The drinks company couldn’t have found anyone better qualified or more accomplished if they tried.

For the Austrian daredevil, now 43, the journey to reach this point has been protracted. For the last five years, he has trained extensively to pull off the jump. In addition to staying in shape and skydiving as often as he can manage (he has more than 2,500 dives under his belt), he had a large part to play in the development of the balloon. “Once the capsule was developed, we put in all the sensors and scientific equipment. I had to work extensively with these guys because in the end I’m the one who will be operating all the systems, given I will be the only one in the balloon. I even had to get a gas balloon licence for the jump because the FAA [America’s Federal Aviation Authority] would not let me fly it without one.”

He has also had to rework his technique to jump in a pressure suit, which will keep him alive in the inhospitable stratosphere, where the temperature can dip to as low as -70?C. “It’s not easy to skydive in a suit – you are so limited in your movements. Your head cannot rotate normally,” he explains. “Plus, there’s not much I can do for the first 50 seconds because the air is so thin. You’re falling almost into vacuum, so there’s no air to use to your advantage – it’s like swimming without water.”

Because the operation is so dangerous, Red Bull, and partners Zenith watches and Riedel Communications, have spared no expense in getting the best men to spearhead the project. In addition to some of the smartest engineers and scientists, they’ve also brought in the only man who is qualified to advise Baumgartner on such a jump: Joe Kittinger himself. “Joe has been a great asset to the mission. He’s motivational, funny and supportive – and he’s the only one who’s been there and done that,” says Baumgartner, who will be in constant touch with Kittinger during his ascent.

The mission of the Stratos project is to collect data that will help scientists understand how the human body reacts to the extremes that Baumgartner will be subjected to. He is, for example, expected to break the sound barrier about 30 seconds after jumping. The information gathered will help in the development of the next generation of spacesuits, research that has been going on since 2003, when the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia plunged to the ground after it broke up during re-entry.

The first test jump, from 71,500 ft, was sucessfully conducted in March this year as a systems test. After another dry run from 90,000 ft, the team will gear up for the final jump, with the launch window being open from July through October.

As fraught with risk as the mission is, Felix Baumgartner is far from scared. With so many great minds behind him, we think the only things that could weigh him down are his giant balls of steel